A more equitable school system

Australia faces growing inequity and disadvantage in our schools. Our education system is separating into a hierarchy of advantaged and over-funded schools at the top end, and disadvantaged, under-funded schools at the bottom. Our overall student performance continues to stagnate compared to similar countries. CPD has examined these problems in detail in recent years. In June 2016, CPD released Uneven Playing Field: The State of Australia’s Schools. In June 2017, we released the follow-up, Losing the game: State of our Schools in 2017. Both reports had a major impact on the national debate on how to best improve the system and ensure all our students receive a quality education.

In a Class of Their Ownis a series of discussion papers to extend this research, exploring different facets of how Australia’s school system segregates and divides, and concentrates disadvantage. The first paper was A Creeping Indigenous Separation(Feb 2018) which focused on disadvantage related to Indigenous students; the second paper was Institutionalised Separation(July 2018) which looked at inequity within selective schools and their impact on other schools.

communications - January 2019

In a Class of Their Own is a series of discussion papers to extend CPD’s research on a more equitable school system, exploring different facets of how Australia’s contemporary school system segregates...

Chris Bonnor - July 2018

Published in The Sydney Morning Herald on 16 July 2018. In the debate about selective schools, personal stories and beliefs can drown out evidence, especially when that evidence challenges the status quo....

communications - June 2017

Six years after the recommendations from the original Gonski Review into education were published, Australia is once again on the cusp of major education reform. In early May, the Turnbull Government...

communications - September 2016

Following the release of their number crunching report on the unfairness and inequalities of our current school funding system, CPD Fellows Chris Bonnor and Bernie Shepard implore education ministers to...

communications - September 2016

CPD Fellow Chris Bonnor comments on Fairfax’s recent findings that state schools are scrambling for funding and are increasingly divided by socio-economic status. The contrast between the fees and payments...

communications - August 2016

The NAPLAN test results have been released and the annual contest over interpreting the performance of our school kids has begun. The results demonstrate a national performance plateauing in reading,...

communications - June 2016

CPD’s latest report Uneven playing field: the state of Australia’s schools and its call for a revitalisation of the Gonski agenda for needs-based school funding attracted widespread attention and coverage. You can...

There is plenty of evidence to suggest democracy is in trouble. In Australia, more people are losing trust in our public institutions and processes. Business and civil society are viewed mistrustfully as well.